Spanish version of the Adult Executive Functioning Inventory (ADEXI): Psychometric properties in adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Intellectual Disability

Abstract: The aim of the present study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Adult Executive Functioning Inventory (ADEXI) in adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Intellectual Disability (ID). A total of 121 adults with ASD and ID were recruited and informant ratings on the ADEXI were collected to investigate the factor structure, as well as reliability and validity. The results showed that we could replicate the two-factor structure (i.e., working memory and inhibition) that had been found in a previous study of adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The two ADEXI subscales were shown to have high internal consistency and significant associations were found between the ADEXI and the Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX), another executive function rating instrument. Conclusively, the ADEXI appear to be a valid instrument for assessing executive function deficits in adults with ASD and ID. Keywords: Executive deficits; Autism Spectrum Disorders; Intellectual Disability; assessment; psychometric properties. Versión en español del Inventario de Funcionamiento Ejecutivo para Adultos (ADEXI): propiedades psicométricas en adultos con trastornos del espectro del autismo y discapacidad intelectual Resumen: El objetivo del presente estudio fue investigar las propiedades psicométricas de la versión española del Inventario de Funcionamiento Ejecutivo para Adultos (ADEXI) en personas adultas con Trastornos del Espectro del Autismo (TEA) y Discapacidad Intelectual (DI). Se reclutó un total de 121 personas con TEA y DI y se recopilaron los resultados obtenidos en el ADEXI para investigar la estructura factorial, la fiabilidad y validez. Los resultados obtenidos replican los hallazgos en cuanto a estructura de dos factores (es decir, memoria de trabajo e inhibición) de un estudio previo con una población de adultos con Trastorno por Déficit de Atención e Hiperactividad (TDAH). Se demostró que las dos subescalas del ADEXI tienen una alta consistencia interna y se encontraron asociaciones significativas entre el ADEXI y el Cuestionario Disejecutivo (DEX), otro instrumento de evaluación de las funciones ejecutivas. En conclusión, el ADEXI parece ser un instrumento válido para evaluar la disfunción ejecutiva en adultos con TEA y DI

Fiabilidad y validez de la versión española del "Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory" (CHEXI)

Background: The Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (CHEXI) was designed to identify EF deficits in daily life contexts. The aim of the present study was to validate the Spanish version of the CHEXI in 4-5-year-old children. Method: Parents’ ratings of the CHEXI and laboratory tests of EF were investigated in two large samples of 445 children aged 4 years (196 girls, 249 boys) and 459 children aged 5 years (208 girls, 251 boys). CHEXI ratings were collected again after one-year. Results: The two-factor structure of the CHEXI (i.e., Working Memory and Inhibition) was replicated, showing high internal consistency and temporal stability. The 4-year-olds were reported to have higher EF deficits than 5-year-olds have. Boys were rated as having higher EF deficits than girls were. However, gender differences were not significant contrasting performance on EF tasks. Finally, associations between CHEXI ratings and EF tests were weak, suggesting that EF tests and EF ratings capture different aspects of EF. Conclusions: The Spanish CHEXI provides a suitable instrument to assess EF in 4-5-year-old children.Contexto: El Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (CHEXI) se diseñó para detectar déficit de Funciones Ejecutivas (FE) en contextos de la vida diaria. El propósito del presente estudio era validar la versión española del CHEXI para niños de 4 y 5 años. Método: Se obtuvieron las valoraciones de los padres y las puntuaciones en test de laboratorio en una muestra de 445 niños de 4 años (196 niñas, 249niños) y otra de 459 niños de 5 años (208 niñas, 251 niños). Un año más tarde se volvieron a recoger las valoraciones de los padres en CHEXI. Resultados: Se replicó la estructura de dos factores de CHEXI (Memoria de Trabajo e Inhibición), obteniendo una alta consistencia interna y estabilidad temporal. Los niños de 4 años eran valorados con mayor déficit en FE que los niños de 5 años. Los niños alcanzaban puntuaciones más elevadas de déficit de FE. Sin embargo, no aparecieron diferencias significativas de género en las pruebas conductuales. Finalmente, se encontró una baja asociación entre las valoraciones de CHEXI y las puntuaciones de las pruebas conductuales. Este resultado sugiere que los inventarios y las medidas conductuales evalúan diferentes aspectos de las FE. Conclusiones: La versión española de CHEXI ofrece un instrumento válido para evaluar las FE en niños de 4 y 5 años

Capacidad predictiva de los niveles de funcionamiento ejecutivo sobre las habilidades matemáticas básicas.

RESUMEN: En el presente estudio se investiga la capacidad predictiva de las puntuaciones de funcionamiento ejecutivo de niños preescolares obtenidas a la edad de 4 años, sobre las habilidades matemáticas básicas evaluadas 12 meses después. Inicialmente, las puntuaciones de funcionamiento ejecutivo fueron obtenidas a través del Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (CHEXI). Doce meses después se obtuvieron los datos correspondientes a las tareas de comparación numérica básica y conceptos matemáticos básicos, así como los relacionados con el control inhibitorio (tipo go/nogo) y la memoria operativa (Children Size Ordering Task). Los resultados indican que la memoria operativa está implicada en las habilidades matemáticas. Se encontraron correlaciones significativas entre CSOT y los tests de habilidades matemáticas. Además, la subescala de memoria operativa del CHEXI a los 4 años predice significativamente los resultados en habilidades matemáticas 12 meses después. Estos resultados son discutidos en términos de la validez de constructo de constructo de los cuestionarios de valoración del funcionamiento ejecutivo, de su estabilidad y valor predictivoinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic for children with ADHD and/or ASD: a European multi-center study examining the role of executive function deficits and age

BackgroundOne of the COVID-19 pandemic consequences that has affected families the most is school lockdowns. Some studies have shown that distance learning has been especially challenging for families with a child with neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD or ASD. However, previous studies have not taken the heterogeneity of these disorders into account. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate differences between families with a child with ADHD, ASD, or both conditions, and to examine the role of underlying deficits in executive functioning (EF) in both children and parents in relation to negative and positive effects of distance learning.MethodsSurvey data assessing both negative and positive experiences of distance learning were collected from parents with a child aged 5–19 years in seven Western European countries: the UK, Germany, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, and Belgium. Altogether, the study included 1010 families with a child with ADHD and/or ASD and an equally large comparison group of families with a child without mental health problems. We included measures of three different types of negative effects (i.e., effects on the child, effects on the parent, and lack of support from school) and positive effects on the family.ResultsResults confirmed that families with a child with ADHD, ASD or a combination of ADHD and ASD showed higher levels of both negative and positive effects of distance learning than the comparison group. However, few differences were found between the clinical groups. Group differences were more pronounced for older compared to younger children. Regarding the role of both ADHD/ASD diagnosis and EF deficits, primarily children’s EF deficits contributed to high levels of negative effects. Parent EF deficits did not contribute significantly beyond the influence of child EF deficits. Families of children with ADHD/ASD without EF deficits experienced the highest levels of positive effects.ConclusionsSchool closings during COVID-19 have a major impact on children with EF problems, including children with neurodevelopmental disorders. The present study emphasizes that schools should not focus primarily on whether a student has a neurodevelopmental disorder, but rather provide support based on the student’s individual profile of underlying neuropsychological deficits

Assessing ADHD symptoms in children and adults:Evaluating the role of objective measures

Background: Diagnostic guidelines recommend using a variety of methods to assess and diagnose ADHD. Applying subjective measures always incorporates risks such as informant biases or large differences between ratings obtained from diverse sources. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that ratings and tests seem to assess somewhat different constructs. The use of objective measures might thus yield valuable information for diagnosing ADHD. This study aims at evaluating the role of objective measures when trying to distinguish between individuals with ADHD and controls. Our sample consisted of children (n = 60) and adults (n = 76) diagnosed with ADHD and matched controls who completed self- and observer ratings as well as objective tasks. Diagnosis was primarily based on clinical interviews. A popular pattern recognition approach, support vector machines, was used to predict the diagnosis. Results: We observed relatively high accuracy of 79% (adults) and 78% (children) applying solely objective measures. Predicting an ADHD diagnosis using both subjective and objective measures exceeded the accuracy of objective measures for both adults (89.5%) and children (86.7%), with the subjective variables proving to be the most relevant. Conclusions: We argue that objective measures are more robust against rater bias and errors inherent in subjective measures and may be more replicable. Considering the high accuracy of objective measures only, we found in our study, we think that they should be incorporated in diagnostic procedures for assessing ADHD

Parental experiences of homeschooling during the COVID-19 pandemic: differences between seven European countries and between children with and without mental health conditions

The aim of the present study was to examine parental experiences of homeschooling during the COVID-19 pandemic in families with or without a child with a mental health condition across Europe. The study included 6720 parents recruited through schools, patient organizations and social media platforms (2002 parents with a child with a mental health condition and 4718 without) from seven European countries: The United Kingdom (n=508), Sweden (n=1436), Spain (n=1491), Belgium (n=508), the Netherlands (n=324), Germany (n=1662) and Italy (n=794). Many parents reported negative effects of homeschooling for themselves and their child, and many found homeschooling to be of poor quality, with insufficient support from schools. In most countries, contact with teachers was limited, leaving parents with primary responsibility for managing homeschooling. Parents also reported increased levels of stress, worry, social isolation, and domestic conflict. A small number of parents reported increased parental alcohol/drug use. Some differences were found between countries and some negative experiences were more common in families with a child with a mental health condition. However, differences between countries and between families with and without a mental health condition were generally small, indicating that many parents across countries reported negative experiences. Some parents also reported positive experiences of homeschooling. The adverse effects of homeschooling will likely have a long-term impact and contribute to increased inequalities. Given that school closures may be less effective than other interventions, policymakers need to carefully consider the negative consequences of homeschooling during additional waves of the COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics

Barns hemkulturer i förskolan : en studie om hur några pedagoger ser på arbetet att bekräfta barns hemkulturer i förskolan

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur bekräftande av barns hemkulturer i förskolan kan tänkas påverka barns identitetsskapande och förståelse för allas lika värde. Kvalitativa intervjuer med pedagoger är den huvudsakliga metoden, medan studie av undervisningsmaterial och observationer använts som ett komplement till intervjuerna. Resultatet visar att pedagogerna använder sig av flera medvetna strategier för att bekräfta barns hemkulturer på förskolan. Samtliga deltagare beskriver pedagogens förhållningssätt som en del i strategierna. För att stärka barnets identitet menar pedagogerna att barnet behöver få känna sig stolt över sin bakgrund. Några av pedagogerna beskriver hur gällande normer kan påverka barnets identitetsskapande. Att bekräfta barnens hemkulturer på förskolan gör att barnen lär känna varandras kulturer vilket kan öka respekten för varandra